♪ that's going to do it for us this morning. we hope to see you tomorrow. >> don't miss it for the world. "cnn newsroom" with fredericka whitfield starts right now. >> have a great morning. hello, everyone. i'm fredericka whit field in for kyra phillips. we are looking at a violent attack. a woman claims mexican pirates shot and killed her husband and tried to kill her, too. thinking of raiding retirement money to pay for the kid's college, stop right now. experts say it's a move you will regret. and we'll tell you about a new study that links weight and rest. better get a full night's sleep.

it is 9:00 a.m. on the east coast. you are in the "cnn newsroom." breaking story right now following. this involves an 8-year-old girl kidnapped in front of several people including her mother. the girl kidnapped from her fresno, california, neighborhood just last night. police are now investigating an area outside of the city. we don't know yet if they have found the girl or the suspect but what we can tell you are the chilling circumstances of the girl's abduction. police say the suspect drove up to some children last night, telling them that he would take them to buy toys if they got into his car. the man then grabbed the 8-year-old, pulled her into the car and then simply drove away. police say the mother was nearby. got into a car, tried to chase the suspect down but he got away. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: please, whoever has her daughter to bring her back. all she wants is her daughter back home.

>> all right. of course, taking place in about 30 minutes from now, a press conference there in the fresno area investigaolving the investigators. we want the know how you can perhaps help. meantime, recreational lake between the u.s. and mexico is both a murder scene and a reminder of how volatile the border has become. an american is shot to death while jet skiing on a lake along the u.s./mexico border. now, his grieving family is begging the mexican government to help recover his body. the wife's terror was captured on a frantic phone call for help. cnn's josh levs has that and more on this story. these allegations of something terribly wrong happening right there on that lake. >> chilling. you and i have done reporting of that border now and this is just another part of what we have been seeing lately. this is the fear that's gripping more and more people in the u.s. who go to some parts of the border with mexico. the lawlessness and drug-related violence leaving innocent people

dead. david and tiffany hartley on the lake when they were ambushed by gunmen. david hit in the back of the head. tiffany managed to escape. here's part of her 911 call. >> ma'am, were you shot at on -- >> yes. >> by the mexican side or on the u.s. side? >> yes. >> so it was on the mexican side. okay. did you see anybody? >> there were three boats. >> ma'am? >> yes? >> okay. are you sure that your husband got shot? >> yes. >> was he thrown out of the sket ski that he is in the water or something? >> yes. >> so you more or less know where he is? >> yeah. but he's on the mexican side. >> okay. >> well, local officials in that part of mexico believe they were pirates linked to drug cartels and not the first time people on the falcon lake have come under fire. apparently from mexican ban dits.

a dish fisherman said he was on u.s. side of the lake in may when he came under fire. >> you kind of think, oh my gosh, what did i get myself into here? and, you know, in an instant you think do i pull over and take -- or take my chances and, you know, hit the gas and fortunately i had a faster boat than they did and outran them. they chased me about a mile, a mile and a half and then they tailed off. >> a good samaritan said he lives in fear of that area and hearing from him next hour and authorities continuing the search for his body in falcon lake. >> yeah, this is frightening stuff. i guess the real message here for a lot of people in that region, stay away from that area or they feel like they want to stay away for a while at least while the investigation is ongoing. >> right now people hearing the stories and running the other way. >> josh levs, thank you so much. appreciate this. >> sure. we're going to talk politics now because we're four weeks away from voters heading to the

polls for midterm election that could change the balance of power in congress. this morning, a controversial senate candidate releasing the first television ad of the general election. right off the bat a delaware republican christine o'donnell references that 1999 interview where she said that she had dabbled in witchcraft. take a listen. >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. none of us are perfect but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us. politicians who think spending, trading favors and backroom deals are the way to stay in office. i'll go to washington and do what you'd do. i'm christine o'donnell and i approve this message. i'm you. >> wow. i think when you have to start your campaign ad with "i'm not a witch" the battle has been lost.

i think she would have been much smarter to ignore that but, you know, being much smarter is not her strong suit. >> all right. that was bill maher who had o'donnell has his guest on the former "politically incorrect" show and he is a guest this week on cnn's "john king usa." there is a relationship there. all right. the o'donnell ad is generating buzz this morning. let's talk about it with cnn's senior political editor mark preston. mark, clearly this whole witchcraft thing has gotten to the point where she felt like she had to address it. why did she feel she had to address it instead of just forgetting the witchcraft discussion part? >> fred, some would say she shouldn't have addressed it at all. i think she did the right thing addressing it. the fact is what she's trying to do is wipe it out of the way, make fun of herself, poke fun at herself and then as you see in that ad, she then tries to shift

to her candidacy. what she is running on. she is just an every day citizen. she is saying she'll go to washington and change things up. i'll steal you the fact shob sidelined by the whole idea of dabbling in witchcraft and high school certainly is not good for her campaign. but i think she was smart to address it head on. >> sharron angle and audio tapes. what's happening with that campaign? >> yeah. terribly embarrassing episode right now for sharron angle. she is the tea party candidate, the republican nominee out in nevada. you know, she is really made her candidacy about running against the washington establishment. and in fact, she made such comments to a rival of hers last week. the rival actually secretly recorded it in this recording she is heard bashing the republican party but what is really embarrassing for her is what she said here. take a quick listen, fred.

>> that's really all i can offer to you is whatever juice i have, you have, as well. you want to see demint, i have juice with him. i go to washington, d.c. and i say i want to see jim demint. he's rirgt there for me. >> so there you are, fred. you have sharron angle, the tea party candidate who's been running on the whole idea she is going to go to washington and do away with these backroom deals, bashing harry reid for it. just saw christine o'donnell in delaware talking about becomeroom deals and you have sharron angle doing a backroom deal and when's interesting, fred, she is here in washington tonight with several other republican candidates and raising money with the republican establishment. to be a fly on the wall when she appears at the fund-raiser with these republican establishment figures, that would be priceless. >> awkward. all the more reason why november 4th is unpredictable.

mark preston, thanks so much. >> thanks, fred. closely-monitoring a story out of pakistan where a suspected u.s. missile strike yesterday credited with killing nine jihadists. they describe five as german nationals and clear if any of the five linked to european terror plot. the missile strike comes a day after the u.s. issued that travel alert that warned americans to be very careful bh while in europe. the pakistani national who admitted to trying to detonate a car bomb in new york's times square will learn his fate. 30-year-old shahzad goes before a federal judge next hour in manhattan. prosecutors want a life in prison sentence for shahzad for the may 1st bombing attempt. cnn is at the courthouse. and if you're trying to lose weight, then you want to hear about a new study.

just published. it could change your sleeping habits, as well. pass pass and if you're gonna try and do this in anything other than a chevy... well, good luck...month. great deals on the complete family of chevy trucks all backed for a hundred thousand miles. it's truck month. during truck month, use your all-star edition discount for a total value of five thousand dollars on silverado. see your local chevrolet dealer. it shattered his tissue with hurricane blows. no person or place was safe from the spray. but his mom had new puffs ultra soft & strong to save the day. with lotion-free pillows to cushion the force. puffs holds up better than value tissue of course. next time oliver blew his horn, he reached for puffs ultra soft & strong. a nose in need deserves new puffs ultra soft & strong indeed. when you prefer a lotion tissue, try puffs plus lotion.

one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this." but we've actually done it. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach.

all right. so when we think of cancer we think of chemo, radiation. but there's a new therapy being developed to fight brain cancer that's totally different. chief medal correspondent dr. sanjay gupta with me now. fighting brain kans we are a person's immune system sounds fascinating but at the same time how does it work? >> it is interesting. we're talking about probably the deadliest form of brain cancer, about 10,000 cases a year and this is the type of cancer when you get it you're basically told 12 to 14 months to live and the numbers haven't budged. they found a particular protein on the surface of the cancer that is unique to that cancer. it is not present in any normal cells in the body and the reason that's so important is if you find something unique it becomes a target. it becomes a target for medicines and in this case using the body's immune system to treat the cancer as a foreign body, teaching the body to say look for that protein, find it and kill it. this is more and more common.

this sort of harvesting of the body's immune system. >> therapy says to me maybe prolongs the situation but we are not talking about cure, fixes? you said therapy. >> it is not a cure. and when you talk about gleoblastoma, stats are terrible. instead of 14 months, this is closer to 26 months. some patients lived as long as five years and this is still early. what they're basically proven is this can work. they have to figure out can it work in larger populations of people or other cancers? another question. the reason to talk about this is when you talk about chemo and radiation, people know this. this could be something part of the armament. >> fantastic. something else, weight and sleep. there's a real correlation here. >> yeah. you know, so the more you sleep, the less you -- the more weight you can lose. >> yeah. >> maybe not eating as much because you're sleeping. people eat all the time. >> better care of yourselves and

better choices. >> could have a lot to do with how you take care of yourself overall and a couple of hormones that change if you're sleeping enough and the stop hormone to tell you not to eat as much activated. people that sleep about eight and a half hours on average eat less and they end up burning more of the weight as fat as opposed to muscle so another reason to get good sleep. >> that's cheap, too, right? doesn't cost you anything. >> you can afford to get more sleep. >> talk about everyone does it. they put their laptops on their lap, hence the word. that's not a good idea. you feel the heat. >> this may go into the file of let's use some common sense. >> right. >> there's toasted skin syndrome and term toll gist dermatologi study of pediatric a boy as young as 12 years old, creating a sort of burn of the skin. something called arothema and

the skin got mottled and will go away after a while and generate heat, on your lap or smothering it and can't vent and a laptop can cause the problem to the legs, for example. don't use a pillow. that reduces the venting even more. use a tray or something to allow the laptop to cool itself. >> fascinating stuff. we went around the world. touched everything. >> we did, we did. we have a lot more to do, to. >> i know. there's more. all right. thanks so much. appreciate that. all right. straight ahead, rescuers, they're less than two football fields away from reaching the trapped miners in chile but then the most dangerous part of the operation. we'll explain that. i'm rob marciano. fall is here and typically means crazy weather on either side of the country. we have just that. weather's coming up next. it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now.

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a look at the top stories right now. a woman claims gunmen in boats shot and killed her husband last week an tried to kill her on a lake between texas and mexico. the couple was riding jet skis on falcon lake between laredo and told authorities they were on the mexican side when the gunmen ambushed them.

no word on a motive but a sheriff in the area believes the shooters could be pirates linked the mexican drug car tels. we could get a verdict today from a murder trial in connecticut. steven hayes accused of killing a mother and two daughters back in 2007 and burning down their house. another defendant will be tried separately. and the port of houston, the second largest port in the country, is closed for a third day because of an electical tower leaning over the channel. power lines are hanging too low for ships to pass. all right. some pretty severe weather in southern nevada yesterday leaving a lake -- leaving a lake meade marina in tatters. witnesses say strong storms dumped so much rain that it created a wall operate water and mud and rocks that came careening down into the callville bay marina. it trashed boats and equipment there.

no one, thankfully, was injured. it appears more rain forecast for the southwest. meteorologist rob marciano can tell us more about that. nice to see you. >> pretty intense storms in vegas, phoenix and the southwest. flash flooding in parts of nevada and arizona, also. we are seeing that again this morning. north of phoenix, except yesterday it was in the afternoon. all rotating around this low right here which is kind of -- not really moving all that quickly. also on top of the amount of rain that we have had, little bit of white now popping up in the sierra nevada. above 8,000 feet and we have several inches of snow falling and we could see six to ten inches of snow in some parts of the southern nevadas and sierra nevadas and yosemite. it is pretty much over, suspect it? east coast, we are looking at a similar situation and we have two lows bookending the country. atlantic moisture into the northeast and creating unsettled

weather here and this will hang around probably for a day, day and a half. all the way back through parts of ohio and those are the issues that we are having there. here's what it looks like on the weather map right now. big, blue "h" in the middle. that's the gorgeous stuff. we have record lows from michigan and through tennessee valley and parts of texarkana but the warmth up into montana where yesterday they saw high temperatures that they have never seen before. so time of the year where fall certainly gets interesting. mother nature doesn't know what to do and showing that right today. okay. want to touch on this, as well. what's going on here in the caribbean. the national hurricane center, still hurricane season, right, for the next two months. a high probability of a tropical depression if not tropical storm and once that happens, the question is what does it do? head this way? we have dry air over here. that's good. protects us.

we have those that low that's creating the showers in the northeast. that may very well protects, as well a. world of hurt for folks in the northern lesser antilles and puerto rico and they're not liking life. fredericka, for you, sean morris dialed this up. lover of fall, the falling leaves. >> i like that touch. very sweet. >> some areas where the foliage is peaking across the western great lakes and across the northern areas. 72, pretty mild, in minneapolis. >> beautiful. all right. very nice. love it. thanks. appreciate that. all right. more moms and dads these days are cashing in their retirement savings to pay for their children's chenollege education. some experts say that may be a big mistake, a mistake of a lifetime. ♪

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i kind of feel like if you're not having fun at what you do, then you've got the wrong job. my landing was better than yours. no, it wasn't. yes, it was. was not. yes, it was. what do you think? take one of the big ones out? nah. it shattered his tissue with hurricane blows. no person or place was safe from the spray. but his mom had new puffs ultra soft & strong to save the day. with lotion-free pillows to cushion the force. puffs holds up better than value tissue of course. next time oliver blew his horn, he reached for puffs ultra soft & strong. a nose in need deserves new puffs ultra soft & strong indeed. when you prefer a lotion tissue, try puffs plus lotion. one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something.

we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this." but we've actually done it. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach.

all right. yesterday was a tough one on wall street. the dow gave back some of the recent gains as concerns about the economy came back to the forefront but today wall street could get its mo jo back. carter evans at the new york stock exchange with more on that. carter? >> hi, fred. yes, stocks are set to rise at the open thanks to encouraging signs here and overseas. overseas, the bank of japan says it has a plan to boost its economy and that includes cutting the central bank's key lending rate and then buying some government bonds. now, japan is the world's third largest economy and a big trading partner for the u.s. so

what happens there definitely affects us here. here at home, we're expected to report at the top of the hour to show that activity in the service sector picked up a little bit last month. now, this area accountses for most of the nation's jobs, hotels to banks, hotels and hospitals and important. hopefully seeing the numbers rise when the opening bell rings about one minute away right now and may not be all good news today. fed chief ben bernanke sounded an economic warning bell last night speaking in rhode island and bernanke said the u.s. could take a hit if the government does not take steps to curb our huge budget deficit. right now, it's at $1.3 trillion and that is very close to the record high. but bernanke says it's a very delicate balancing act because if congress cuts spending or raises taxes too quickly, that could have a big affect on the economy and possibly slow the recovery.

it could also possibly hurt job growth and no one wants to do that right now. it's a big concern, fred. this deficit is a big concern to a lot of people and hopefully, hopefully we can get that under control because if we have too much debt, it really could hurt job growth in the country. >> okay. we are just seconds away -- there it is right now. the bell ringing. okay. where are we starting today? >> well, hopefully we are going to see an increase as soon as the bell stops ringing right now. we are at 10,751 so we're getting close and there we are, the numbers are rising as i speak right now. looks like the dow is up about 18, 19 points to start the day. not too bad. >> perfect. carter evans, thanks so much. parents, you know this. you make sacrifices but this one is raising concerns among financial experts in particular. nearly one fourth of all american parents are raiding their retirement savings to pay for their kid's college tuition. experts say that's a bad move.

christine romans is here to explain why. christine? >> well, for so many families, there isn't a choice. caught between two cardinal rules of personal finance. trying to get the kids on the right foot in the right college and education to dom pete in the labor market and also trying to save for retirement and some families can't do both at the same time and a recent poll of gallup and sally mae found 24% of people plan to use pensions and iras to fund their kid's college and 24% said they're planning to use 529 accounts. what are 529 accounts? accounts specifically tax advantaged and meant to be a vehicle for college savings so 24%, that number is too high. how many people this school year raided their retirement accounts according to to this poll? 6% of people had to dip into their own retirement money to pay for their kid's education. that's up from 3%, the previous year. why does it matter?

look. your kid can borrow for college and has his or her whole life to pay it off. you cannot borrow for the retirement. that's the issue for so many people. go to cnnmoney.com and see the story on the website and hear some pretty important advice of other experts about how to plan properly but the bottom line is there's not enough money to go around for retirement and college education for so many people. tuition is still rising. this is a place that a lot of people found themselves caught between. >> wow. in a very big way. thanks so much. appreciate that from new york. >> sure. all right. this is a breast cancer awareness month and you will see a lot of pink ribbons in this month of october. well, now, take a look at one example of awareness that's upsetting a few folks. take a look. it is a pink version of mike's hard lemonade to support breast cancer research. critics say this is hypocritical because alcohol can actually increase breast cancer risk. the president of mike's hard

lemonade, which is an alcoholic bev rage, claims the company donated $500,000 to research over the past couple of years. some groups won't take that money. others will. but say they don't endorse drinking. all right. one soldier's ordeal. he bears the scars of being gunned down on his own army base in texas. >> i get nightmares and stuff a lot. but i mean, i'm used to it by now so i know it's -- i know it's not real and not happening anymore. you wake up sweating and, you know, your heart's beating real fast. as long as you tell yourself, you wake up and look around and see the friends here. it's like, all right. never mind. go back to sleep. >> well today, this ft. hood soldier finds an odd sense of peace in a war zone. we'll share his story from afghanistan.

a look at the top stories

right now. pakistani intelligence officials say a drone attack killed 11 suspected militants. five of the dead are german. the missile struck a building. there's no word on whether that drone attack is linked to the terror threat to european cities. intelligence officials believe a group of jihadists of germany behind the plot. a state department travel advisory remains in effect for americans in europe. and rescuers trying to reach the trapped miners in chile are now about 175 yards away but after a drill clears the way a decision must be made about lining the mine shaft with casing. that could mean days more work for the rescuers. on to las vegas now. and people came together to rally against bullies in school and the internet. this is their response to the recent suicide of gay and lesbian students a. lot of people here say they were bullied in school and the man

who actually organized the rally, he says he was a bully in high school and made another student life's hell even though he was gay himself. the group called for federal laws against bullying. and that indeed was a top on "anderson cooper 360" asking a couple of experts if it's the law's job to stop bullies like the ones who humiliated the rutgers student that jumped off a bridge. here's some of that discussion. >> we're also heartbroken about this case that there's a desire to see the law fix it but i'm very skeptical of the law's ability to make much difference. and in fact, could make the situation worse. we are talking about teenagers, maybe young teenagers, who are the victims and perpetrators of bullying. do we want the cops investigating this all the time? do we want police streaming through high schools, junior high schools investigating what people have on the internet?

i suppose in extreme cases, yes. this has got to be schools and parents much more than law enforcement. >> i work with a lot of district attorneys who really believe and want for this to be an issue for families and schools to work on together to discipline kids so there are three goals here. one is that you teach what the values of the community are about. don't include degrading other people. you give concrete consequences and allow for reintegration of the bully into the community and when getting to the place of stalking, harassment and really a district attorney's per view and responsibility that is when they would come in. many of the district attorneys i work with are saying, we want schools and parents to work on this and we will come in when we believe it is our responsibility. >> right now, 45 states have laws against bullying. anderson cooper 360 will dig deep sbeer the bullying problem tonight and next hour we're talking to a man who's reaching out to victims by way of youtube. he's giving gay and lesbian

teens support that they might not be getting from their own parents, pastors or peers. all right. the race for robert byrd's senate seat is tighter. we're heading to west virginia for this hour's political ticker. !e!e!e!e!e!e!e!e!e!e!e!ee

all right. time now for the political update. cnn's senior congressional kropt dana bash is in morgantown, west virginia. when's happening there, dana? >> reporter: well, that's right, fredericka. the first thing on the ticker, something we just put up and that is that there's a pair of new television ads put up by the republican national party in washington and by the republican candidate for senate here, john

rici that are hitting the governor here joe manchin. he, of course, the candidate for senate here and they're saying what we heard and we have heard many, many times while we have been on the ground here that they believe that he is going to be just like president obama who is not popular here. joe manchin is popular here and brings us to the second thing on the ticker. this is actually something that we posted, a rather lengthy story about the senate race here and it is a senate race to replace the legendary and late robert c. byrd. here you can see some of the interviews that we did with both candidates and the democratic governor joe manchin. that's second on the ticker. a fund-raiser going on tonight in d.c. it is headlined by scott brown, the senator from massachusetts. he is going to be helping raise money for a lot of the candidates, republican candidates from across the country. they'll go into a private residence in d.c. and try to get one last check or two out of

some of the republican fund-raisers to help them go back to states like nevada and elsewhere, new hampshire to try to beat the democrats they're fighting very hard. a lot of races neck and neck to try to unseat democrats or replace democratic seats in the senate, fredericka. >> all right. right at the edge of our seats on all of these runs come november. thanks so much, dana bash, appreciate that. of course, we'll have the next political up dmat an hour and a reminder for all the political news, go to cnnpolitics.com. all right. time to head cross country. first to gainesville, florida. police there say a 24-year-old man went on a shooting spree killinging his father wounding five others before killing himself. authorities say he had a history of mental problems. next up, los angeles where the school system is considering using a finger scan system to speed up cafe checkout lines. a pilot program is already being tried in one school. the aclu and some parents say

they're concerned about privacy. we're told no schools required to adopt the process and for those that do, students can opt out. and last stop, atlanta where a federal judge is facing weapons and drug charges including possession of cocaine and marijuana. 67-year-old jack camp was released yesterday on $50,000 bond. fbi agents say he bought drugs for a stripper with whom he was having an affair. the judge's attorney says he is innocent. and breaking news involving an 8-year-old girl kidnapped in front of several people including her mother. the girl was kidnapped from her fresno, california, neighborhood just last night. police are dminvestigating an aa outside the city. we don't know if they've found the girl or the suspect. what we can tell you are the chilling circumstances of the girl's abduction. police say the suspect drove up to some children last night telling them that he would take them to buy toys if they got

into the car. well, the man then pulled the 8-year-old into the car and drove away. police say the mother was nearby. got in her car and tried to chase down the suspect but he got away. >> translator: please, whoever has her daughter, to bring her back. all she wants is her daughter back home. >> all right. at a press conference right now, there's the police chief of fresno and apparently some of the latest information is that they are calling this a stranger abduction that clearly the person, the suspect that approached those children, was somebody that no one there knew. at least the child did not know. and they continue to search the area and they're hoping for the public's help, as well, to try to locate the 8-year-old and the suspect. we'll have much more right after this.

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all right. our next story takes us to one of the most dangerous places in

the world. and shadows one of the most dangerous jobs but the u.s. soldier in afghanistan bares scars brought from home. he was a victim of the deadly shooting spree at ft. hood in texas. cnn's ivan watson has his story. >> reporter: some of the soldiers fighting this war are survivors of one of the deadliest domestic shooting incidents in american military history. a bomb-hunting patrol rolls home in a cloud of dust. among the road weary troops, alan carroll from new jersey. he moves with surprising strength and speed, less than a year ago carroll was shot four times with a pistol. >> i got hit one right there. i took one right there. came out here. i took the one in my side and one in my leg. >> reporter: carroll was wounded not in afghanistan but at ft. hood, texas, during a shooting

rampage by a lone gunman last november. at first, carroll thought the shooting was a joke. then, after being hit by two bullets, carroll says he came face to face with the suspected shooter, major nadal hassan. >> me and him looked at each other and all you're thinking is [ bleep ]. you know? damn it, i'm dead. he fired off two shots. one went past the ear and the other hit me in the leg. >> reporter: by the time the smoke cleared, 13 people were dead. carroll's company lost three soldiers that day. >> it's bumpy. >> reporter: three months later the company deployed to afghanistan. despite the rounds, carroll was determined to be there with him. >> you won't make it. you won't make it. i like proving people wrong. it's my thing, i guess. >> reporter: in afghanistan, the 20th engineering battalion hunts

roadside bombs. carroll spent his first six months here operating a one-man bomb sniffing husky vehicle that the sergeant nicknamed the koch. provised devices hit all but one of the vehicles in i had one hi truck. it wasn't really that significant. still scared the crap out of me, but it wasn't really all that crazy. >> reporter: thanks to armor, carol survived. >> kevlar. >> reporter: but taliban ambushes have claimed victims, including a fellow platoon member who was killed last august. >> yo. >> reporter: nine years ago, allen carol was in seventh grade, waiting for a school bus when he first learned about the september 11th attacks. a lot has changed since then. >> i get nightmares and stuff a lot. but i mean, i'm used to it by now, so i know it's not real, i know it's not happening anymore.

you still wake up sweating and your heart is beating real fast. as long as you tell yourself, you know, you wake up, i look around and see all my friends here and i'm like, never mind, go back to sleep. >> reporter: today, these young soldiers are veterans of battles both at home and abroad, with the physical and mental scars to prove it. the soldiers of the 20th engineering battalion have received hours of counseling and therapy, and now say they just want to leave the ft. hood shooting behind them. their officers say their true test of their emotional and mental health will come when they return home from afghanistan after their dangerous tour of duty. ivan watson, cnn, kandahar in southern afghanistan. and here's what we're working on for the next hour of the cnn "newsroom," beginning with christine romans in new york. christine. >> fredrickaa, how you use your television is changing. how would you like to watch tv

and seamlessly move between television, a football game, a movie, checking your e-mail, sending a facebook message, and using your phone as a remote control? it's coming. next hour. in the cnn severe weather center, record heat, record cold, some snow. plus something that may become a tropical storm. all that, the next hour. i'm carol costello in new york. how do you protect your child from bullying at school? we'll go step by step through the process and show you how you can keep your child safe. that's at the top of the hour. all right, thanks to everyone. and we'll also be talking with a man who is reaching out to bullying victims, and he's using youtube to get out the message that things will get better. dan savage joins us in a few minutes. to do that so well. ♪ ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪

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we're closely monitoring a developing story out of pakistan, where a suspected u.s. missile strike in north waziristan yesterday is credited with killing 11 militant jihadist. pakistani intelligence officials describe five of the dead as german nationals. it's not clear if they're linked to a terror plot. the missile strike comes a day after the u.s. issued a travel

alert that warns americans to be careful while in europe. and the arrest of 12 people us is suspected of having terror links. three have ties to a french man arrested on terror charges last month in italy. the other nine are said to have links to an islamist movement, and were trying to secure weapons and explosives. none of them have been formally charged. meantime, rescuers drilling toward those trapped miners in childly are now just 175 yards from reaching them. but after having the drilling -- but even after the drilling is done, rather, a critical phase of the rescue operation remains. cnn's patrick opposeman joins us from northern chile with an update. patrick? >> reporter: good morning, fredricka. and yes, rescuers aretantlizing close to these men, saying they

could reach them by the end of the week. the president said his hope is the men will be above ground by the end of next week. but rescue officials here said that the priority is not just getting them in quickly, but as safely as possible. >> translator: evidently, we have to do what is necessary to avoid any risks. i understand everyone's hope, including mine, is to get them out as soon as possible. however, we cannot run any risk, so we have to do what is required to secure the mine. >> reporter: and fredricka, working going on behind here today to get those men out, drilling continues as it has now, every day, 61 days since the men were trapped. you know, the rescue in and of itself will be an ordeal. two chilean rescue workers, one a navy commando, another pair medic, will be sent down to the men when they're ready to be

pulled out by a capsule. the men who are the healthiest, physically and psychologically, will come up first. they'll require less time, so the idea is to get the men out a little bit quicker, and then the men who need more help will come up, get. it could be a process lasting several days. officials here, though, say the final order of the men who getting to first has not been finalized as of yet. fredricka? >> all right, fascinating stuff. patrick opman, thanks so much. the recent suicides of students who were gay or perceived as gay has started a national conversation on bullies and how to stop them. bullying and harassment has had fatal consequences in it several cases, just within the last month. one example is 19-year-old tyler clementi. he was the rutgers freshman who jumped off the george washington bridge. two students have allegedly posted a sex video of him with a

man. seth walsh of california was 13 years old and hanged himself from a tree after years of that rasment. friends say bullies targeted him because he was gay. billy lucas of indiana was 15 when he took his life last month. and asher brown of texas was only 13 when he shot himself in the head. his parents say bullies picked on him because he was small, didn't wear designer clothes, and because they thought he was gay. well, these are just four cases. there are, no doubt, many others. a recent school survey found that nine out of ten lesbian, gay or transgender kids are harassed at school, and that gay students are four times more likely to attempt suicide. now celebrities are reaching out, offering support to kids who might not get it from their parents, friends or church. >> it gets better. >> it gets better. >> it gets better.

>> it gets better. >> it gets better. >> there is hope, and there is help. >> people are here for you, people who care and understand. >> it may be the darkest time in the world for you, but you need to understand that there is hope. there is always hope, and there is always help. >> dan savage is a columnist and brain child behind that youtube sensation, that campaign. it gets better. he's joining us now via skype from chicago. dan, where did this idea come from, and how did you get everyone to participate like you did? >> i was reading about the suicide of justin aber in minnesota, and billy lucas in indiana and i had the reaction that adults typically had, and that is i wish i had the chance to talk to them for five minutes to tell them that it gets better. but in these small towns, they're not going to bring openly gay adults to address a student body, we're not going to get an invitation from their church or parents to give these kids hope. and then it occurred to me i

didn't have to wait for permission anymore. so my husband and i made a video where we talked about our experience in high school, and we survived and we have great, wonderful lives now. because that's really the issue here. these kids are 13, 14, victims of brutal bullying, often at school, go home to bully from parents, dragged to church for more bullying from the pulpit, and can't picture a future for themselves that is happy. so we created these videos talking about lives now giving these kids hope for a future that is worth hanging on for. >> so you convey to a lot of these young people that you can empathize because you have been there, been bullied as well. but do you see that the bullying is different from when you experienced it as a child in school versus what's taking place now and how do you appeal to -- how do you reach out to kids who are dealing with bullying that it really is -- that really is at a different level? >> it's at a different level now, particularly for gay and lesbian teenagers.

we have been subjected to an anti hate campaign, demagoguery, lies, distortions, really a brutal, dehumanizing campaign with a religious right claiming that gays and lesbians are out to destroy the institution of marriage, destroy family, military. u.s. senators claiming that gay and lesbian marriage is a bigger threat to the planet than climate change. and most people in rural areas can only abuse distractions. gays and lesbians they have never met at the ballot box. and then these -- their children who steep in this rhetoric go to school, and there's 13-year-old asher brown, or seth andrews. 13 years old, who is gay. and the religious rite would have us believe that seth and asher made a choice at 13 to be gay, a choice to be brutally bullied and they could have easily chosen not to be gay and instead it was somehow easier for asher to blow his brains out and easier for seth to hang himself than just to choose to be straight. the religious rite needs to be

held accountable for the climate of hate and fear and bullying that they have encouraged in the schools. and this is what we're seeing for their efforts. dead children. >> so this youtube campaign, it gets better, from hathaway to mccarthy, their messages on there, are you also continuing to receive messages from noncelebrity types, and when if that does happen, what are the messages, and how do you kind of police or how do you kind of absorb what's being said and make a decision about what should be posted? >> the it gets better project, which is it gets better project.com, isn't a bandwagon that people are jumping on because celebrities were on it. originally the first videos were average everyday gays and lesbians talking about their lives. god bless them for jumping in and doing something, but most of the videos, 600 these now, more to review and post, most of them are everyday gays and lesbians

all over the country, rural lesbians in vermont, professor of divinity school, average gay and lesbian couples, singles, young people, old people, all over the world. videos from new zealand and germany and netherlands and canada talking about their lives. because this is what's so important and crucial about the project. a 15-year-old kid who takes his life because he is gay is saying i can't picture a future for myself that has any joy in it, where i have a restored relationship with my family. there's enough happiness coming my way that i can tough out this horrifying period of bullying, and gay and lesbian adults, everyday people all over the country are jumping in to say i want to show you my life, share my life with you to give you hope. and now celebrities are jumping in too to say we're on your side and we support you and we want to direct you. the trevor project, trevor project.org, which is a 24-hour crisis line for gays and lesbians who might be thinking about committing suicide. and it's wonderful. the response has been overwhelming. and it's helping. i'm getting e-mails every day

from moms of bullied 13, 14, 15-year-old gay or perceived to be gay kids who are sitting down in front of the computers with their bullied kids and watching these videos, and not just the videos of celebrities, the videos of average, everyday people, and they're now able to say to their children, you can have a happy life. please hang in there, don't believe the lies told by the religious rite. don't believe the things said to you at school by bigoted children and adults. >> columnist and brain child of it gets better, dan savage, thank you so much for your time, joining us via skype from chicago. appreciate it. >> thank you very much for having me. and, of course, we'll continue this conversation later on this hour. cnn's carol costello will have more on other ideas on how to stop bullies and how to protect victims. and this breaking news. police in fresno, california say they are working several leads in their search for an 8-year-old girl. the girl was kidnapped in front of several people, including her mother last night. police say the suspect lured her into his pickup truck, and drove off. the girl's mother followed in

another car, but the suspect still got away. >> translator: please, whoever has her daughter, to bring her back. all she wants is her daughter back home. >> police detained a man after getting a witness tip. that man has a criminal history, but police don't believe that he was involved in this little girl's abduction. also happening right now, at manhattan's federal courthouse, the sentencing for the pakistani national who admits to trying to blow up new york's times square with a car bomb, 30-year-old faisal shahzad was arrested a few days after the failed bombing attempt. prosecutors are asking for life in prison for shahzad. they are notinging potential death and destruction that had that bomb been detonated. the hearing is set for this hour, and we'll let you know how the sentencing unfolds right here on cnn. a special edition of

"cross-country" looking at the alleged crimes and scandals of our elected officials now. and we start in atlanta, where a federal judge finds himself on the other side of the bench, accused of weapons and drug possession. judge jack camp is accused of having cocaine and marijuana. fbi agents say camp used drugs with an exotic dancer, and the two were having an affair. the judge's attorney says his client is innocent. next up, calumet county, wisconsin, and the resignation of district attorney ken kratz. he is the prosecutor embroiled in a texting scandal. kratz had sent personal messages to a woman who was the victim of domestic abuse of he sent the text while prosecuting her former boy friend. the d.a. had vowed not to resign, but apparently the pressure was just too strong. and a belle, california councilman has resigned. he is facing criminal charges following a salary scandal that allegedly cheated city taxpayers

out of millions of dollars. luis or teagua is one of eight current and former bell city officials, including the mayor, arrested last month, and accused of paying themselves six-figure salaries and benefit packages. and rescuers are less than two football fields away from reaching those trapped miners in chile. but then comes the most dangerous part of the operation. we'll explain. i'm rob marciano. record breaking cold temperatures and heat. some snow in the sierras, lots going on. plus something that may turn into our next tropical storm. weather in a little bit. stay right there. [ male announcer ] when it comes to energy bills,

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with owens corning insulation -- just $10.44 per roll. topping our morning passport, a developing story out of pakistan, where we're closely monitoring a suspected u.s. missile strike in north waziristan yesterday, credited with killing 11 mill at that particular time jihadists. five of the dead as german nationals. it's not clear if any of the

five were linked to any european terror plot. but the missile strike comes one day after the u.s. travel alert warning americans to be very careful while in europe. meanwhile, french authorities this morning announced the arrest of 12 people suspected of having links to terrorist networks. three have reputed ties to a french man arrested on terror charges last month in italy. the other nine are said to have links to an islamist movement and were trying to secure weapons and explosives. none of them have been formally charged. and rescuers trying to reach those trapped miners in chile are now about 175 yards away. but after a drill clears the way, a decision must be made about lining the mine shaft with casing, and that could mean days' more work for the rescuers. those miners have been trapped for more than two months now. all right, a big chill being felt this morning in the midwest. and in other parts, too. i felt it this morning, didn't

you, rob? i like it, though. >> well, we'll start with, this because i know you liked it last hour so much, the falling leaves. >> loved it. >> 65 in l.a., below average for this time of year. >> 69 atlanta, 61 in new york. and you know, once we get the sun up, it's the time of year where the sun is still pretty strong, but the days are shorter, so mother nature really doesn't know what to do with things. and a lot of times we get areas where we get record-breaking cold temperatures in one part of the country and record-breaking highs in another. and that's what we saw yesterday, records broken in lace places like montana and other places that i'll show you in a second here. first off, though, cool area and showers across arizona and nevada yesterday. that caused some flash flooding in spots, and also some snow in spots, as well. and above about 8,000 feet. and this time of year, a lot of those mountain roads at that altitude are still open, obviously, because not a lot of snow, but some may be closed from time to time, especially across the southern sierra.

just south of tahoe, a winter storm warning posted, and that's south into yosemite, and we could see 6 to 10 inches of snowfall there. how about that? and on the east coast, this stubborn area of low pressure continues to sit and spin moisture to the western great lakes. and this will continue to sit here, i think, today, and into part of tomorrow. and it's just going to make things rather unsettled for the northeast and keep it on the damp side. here are some of those record lows we talked about, gaylord, michigan, 23. this is yesterday. we had some similar numbers this morning. oklahoma city, 37 degrees. that blew out the old-time record and longview, texas seeing a temperature yesterday of 41. new york, an hour delay right now. newark, 30-minute delays, and philly has got 25. and then briefly, fredricka, this thing could be our next tropical depression or storm, but at this point, we're pretty well protected with the way the atmosphere and weather pattern is set up to keep it away from

the u.s., but we will keep an eye on it. fnchts it were to have an name, would it be an o? >> otto, i believe. not necessarily that threatening but i've known some mean ottos in my time. little beavers with bad appetites. >> that would be otter-like. thank you so much for that, rob. okay, shocking moments during a ukrainian circus performance captured on camera by a cnn i-reporter. a lion tamer in the ring is suddenly mauled by two lions. circus workers tried to hose down the lions as you see right there. according to a witness, doug shepard who was there with his family, they say there wasn't much to protect the crowd from the attacking animals. the lion trainer reportedly underwent emergency surgery, of course, and is said to be in stable condition this morning. very frightening moments there. all right, polls suggest that one in three children in america is a bully victim. and as we have seen lately,

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to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. a look the at our top stories right now. police in gainesville, florida say a 24-year-old man went on a shooting spree, killing his father and wounding five others before killing himself. authorities say the man had a history of mental problems. and riders on amtrak friday will be seeing a lot more police this weekend. but don't worry. it's not connected to that european alert for americans to remain vigilant to possible terror attacks. instead, abc news is reporting that a security exercise is scheduled that day. abc also reports that amtrak's counterparts in europe and britain are also conducting similar exercises. and the port of houston, the second largest port in the country, is closed for a third day because an electrical tower

is leaning over the channel. coast guard officials say power lines are hanging too low for ships to pass. all right, how to stop bullies and is how to help the victims. we're taking a look at solutions, next.

if you have three kids in your house, chances are one of them is being bullied. bullying is a complicated problem with no easy fix. as we have seen in the last few weeks, it's a problem with tragic consequences. cnn's carol costello takes a look at possible solutions to a problem millions of americans endure every day. >> i am. >> i am somebody. i can make a difference.

>> reporter: at oklahoma city's western heights high school, students are pledging to protect the bullied. it's especially important to susan lay. she knows how bullying feels. is it worse with words, do you think? >> i think it is, because when i was little, like, people always said i was, like, really ugly. and it -- i never knew it affected me so much. and, like, people would ask if i was a boy or a girl. and i was hurt. i never wanted that to happen, in, like, it lowered my self esteem really bad. and i never wanted to go to school. >> reporter: so i see it hurts you. i see it hurts you so much. but you know you're beautiful, right? yes. it's the the kind of pain that affects so many children. one in three kids are bullied or bully every year. so how do you stop it? >> we have to take it seriously.

>> reporter: rachel simmons wrote "odd girl out." she is an expert on bullying. >> the way an adult intervenes is just as important as the fact that they're intervening at all. >> reporter: a good first step? calm down. >> don't communicate with anyone. another child or the school. until you can calm and able to have a respectful conversation. because it's very easy to get marginalized as the crazy parent in a school. >> next, document how your child is being bullied. and then ask your child what he or she wants you to do. >> remember, you are not the one who has to walk back into that school for eight hours a day. and you may want to do solution a. but if you do that solution, your child may be mercilessly retaliated against. >> reporter: simmons says bullies are often popular, socially skilled kids who can enlist an army of bullies. >> kids being bullied don't always tell you about it. >> reporter: marissa who is participating in the anti

bullying campaign knows exactly what simmons is talking about. in junior high school, she was a bully. why? >> i don't really know if there was a reason. it was just an easy target, i guess. >> reporter: is it because other kids were making fun of those kids too? >> yeah, there was a lot of others also bullying. >> so sort of like a mob mentality. >> yeah. >> reporter: when you were calling people names, did it make you feel better? >> it's not that it made me feel better. it's i knew they felt worse. >> reporter: which brings us to how bullies ought to be stopped. don't humiliate them. >> if you humiliate a bully publicly, you are much more likely to see retaliation. if you sit down with a child and say, this is what i'm seeing, it's not acceptable, i know you're capable of more, and if it happens again, these are the consequences. >> reporter: susan lay, marissa certainly know the consequences. they're hoping to make this school year bully-free. >> all right. carol now joining us from new

york. so, you know, what about making bullying a crime? there's been a lot of discussion about that. >> i think that's the number one suggestion for most people. why not punish the bullies criminally? well, in the first place, can you really see a 13-year-old bully saying to himself or herself, wow, such-and-such went to jail like way over there in wisconsin, so i'm not going to bully anymore. i mean, experts told me, bottom line, kids really don't -- they don't recognize that examples are being made of other kids. it doesn't matter to them. and plus, it won't stop the behavior. remember, these kids are secure kids. they're popular kids. they want to please adults in a certain way, so if you sit the bully down and you say, you know what, you're better than this, this is what you're doing, this hurts another person, and if you don't stop it, you're going to be punished. and maybe it will be detention. maybe it will be a call to your parents. but that is a better way to stop the bullying behavior than to

charge the kid with some kind of crime. now, it's different if it's like assault, physical assault. but most bullying is really words and internet bullying and things that aren't physical. >> hmmm. all right. carol costello, thanks so much. so we're going to talk some more, of course, about bullying on this network all week long. we have been doing so. so bullying in our schools and now online. why do kids do it, and what can be done to actually end it? other ideas on how to end it, and "ac 360 special report" you don't want to miss 10:00 eastern on cnn. an american shot to death on a jet ski. now the grieving family is making a heart breaking plea to the mexican government. that story straight ahead after this. ♪

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we continue to follow out of fresno, california, where an 8-year-old girl was abducted in front of several people, including her own mother. fresno police wrapped up a news conference just moments ago. let's get the latest now from reporter john thomas kobos from our affiliate kfsn. any closer to finding a suspect, or more importantly, the 8-year-old girl? >> reporter: they are not. but they have issued a statewide amber alert right now so people are aware of what's going on, people following our local coverage. police are calling this a stranger abduction, the first one they say they have seen in years. a lot of times it's a family member or somebody close that knows the victim. and takes them. but in this case, last night around 8:30, witnesses saw a truck drive up on 8-year-old elisa kardina, playing with friends outside her home. and at that time, this witness ran over and yelled for these girls to get away and that's when the driver of an old '70s, '80s model pickup truck, grabbed the girl and took off. the mother actually saw this happen, as well.

she hopped in her car and chased after this driver and lost him after a while. but as you can imagine, police have been on this since last night around 8:30. they have issued a statewide amber alert. the fbi are on this, as well as state patrol agents. >> so you say they're calling this a stranger abduction, but did any one of all the parents and other kids who were outside who witnessed this taking place, did anyone say they had actually seen this person, this suspect, before, even within the past few hours, casing the area? anything like that? >> reporter: as a matter of fact, the police received a call just a minute and a half before this witness alerted them to what was going on. somebody fitting the description of this suspect in the same car was exposing himself to children three blocks away, and i asked the police chief if anybody had seen that vehicle before, and apparently the car or truck was in the area about three days before this happened last night. >> and so someone was detained earlier, at least questioned. did police learn anything from

that person, or did they feel as though there is absolutely no relation between that person they detained and questioned and the crime that took place? >> reporter: yeah, they found somebody in a vehicle about ten miles south of fresno out in the town of selma matching that very same description, somebody was following that person along -- saw them in a car and called it into police, but that person had no affiliation. police are looking for a white male or light hispanic man in his 20s with either a shaved head or slicked back hair. they say that's the description of the person who took the 8-year-old. >> all right, john thomas kobos of kfsm out of fresno, california, thank you. we appreciate the update. also this morning, we're following a heart-wrenching story in southeastern texas. an american is shot to death while jet skiing on a lake that separates the u.s. and mexico. his wife says they were attacked by modern-day pirates. well now the man's grieving family is begging the mexican government to help recover the

body. >> i just kept hearing god tell me, you have to go, you have to go. so i had to leave him. so i could get to safety. >> cnn's josh levs has been gathering all the details on this developing story. what do you have? what's the latest? well, fred, officials are searching for david hartley's body today in that lake. this is a heart-wrenching story, but it's also a sign of the growing insecurity along our border, as drug cartels gain more and more power and that has all sorts of ripple effects. i want you to see where this lake is. we have a google earth here. what you're doing is, you're going to see it. it's right along the border. and within that lake, there are marks showing which is the u.s. side and which is the mexican side. now, david and tiffany hartley were on the mexican side of falc falcon lake when they were ambushed by gunmen on four boats. david was hit in the back of his head, tiffany managed to escape. and we have here part of her 911

call. >> ma'am, were you shot at? >> yes. >> by the mexican side? >> yes. >> or the u.s. side? so it was the mexican side. okay. did you see anybody? >> there were three boats. >> ma'am. >> yes. >> okay. are you sure that your husband got shot? >> yes. >> was he thrown out of -- does that mean he's in the water? >> yes. >> so you more or less know where he is? >> yeah, but he's -- >> okay. >> local officials in that part of mexico believe the gunmen were pirates linked to drug cartels. and this is not the first time that people were doing recreational activities in that lake come under fire. apparently from bandits there are pirates. a fisherman told our "ac 360" he was on the u.s. side of the lake in may when he came under fire. >> you kind of think, oh, my gosh, what did i get myself into here?

and in an instant, you think, do i pull over and take -- or take my chances and, you know, hit the gas? and fortunately, i had a faster boat than they did, so i outran them. they chased me for about a mile, mile and a half and then they tailed off. >> a chase and they tailed off. people in that area are living in fear now. a good samaritan who helped tiffany hartley told us about it. we're not using his name, for his safety. >> i very much fear for my life and my family's well-being, just knowing that i'm so close to the water and to the border. >> so what do you think needs to happen? do you see law enforcement down there, do you see border patrol down there a lot? >> yes, but i think their resources are pretty much stretched out. we need more, like, government to get in there. maybe national guard or somebody needs to really step up. >> fred, authorities are looking into security at the lake. what has been a popular spot for

recreation is now turning into a spot of danger and apparently death. a lot of people now staying away. you and i have talked a lot, we have done entire hours about what's going on at the border and the growing power of drug tar cartels. authorities believe more danger connected to that. >> lightening stuff. thanks so much, josh. the nation's most powerful women invite just a few good men to their annual conference. we'll tell you who made the select list next in 90 seconds. do what? you made it taste like chocolate. it has 35% of your daily value of fiber. tasty fiber, that's a good one! ok, umm...read her mind. [ male announcer ] fiber one chewy bars.

all right. president obama and warren buffett are just two of the men earning an invitation to "fortune's" most powerful women summit. he just wrapped up his opening remarks last hour, all involved focusing on one thing, firing up america's economic engine that for the past few years has been sputtering. >> so the economy is coming

back. most people feel that it's not coming back as strongly now as it was in the first quarter and early in the second quarter. our experience is that it's -- it's pretty much on the same trajectory, which is not -- it's not at a rapid rate of ascent, but it's definitely ascent, just about every level. >> so let's discuss this in further detail with stephanie anmite, the executive editor of "fortune" magazine, joining us live from the d.c. studios. with more on this. so what's different this year, beside the fact you've got four men who were invited, president obama, warren buffett, and also lloyd blankenfein and admiral mike mullen. >> the men are in greater attendance than they have ever been. we have really very much restricted the testosterone in the room at these events. the other thing, because we're in washington, we have been able to attract some of the most

powerful women in washington, everyone from secretary clinton, who will be our closing speaker tomorrow, nancy pelosi spoke yesterday, but we also have senators collins and others in attendance who make our most powerful women in d.c. list. so there's a large contingent from the capital who are here since we're in their home city. and so we're going to be having a lot of conversations not only about business and economics, but also about policy. >> and so what is the criteria, and what defines a powerful woman? you know, we know some of the obvious contenders would be some of the ceos and some of the biggest companies in this country. but there are women who represent so many different industries, professions, persuasions, et cetera, who become noted as powerful women. >> sure. we look for a number of things. influence, impact, the size of the woman's business, the trajectory of her career. these are all things we factor into our decision-making when we come up with a list of the most powerful women. our number one woman, nooi is

the ceo of pepsico, touches people's lives in a very direct way, but also has the power to influence the way people eat, the way people live their lives, their health, and her career trajectory seems to go nowhere but up, seems to be one who could do anything in the business world and policy and foreign affairs. >> and if you don't have a ticket to be in d.c. or to be at this summit, you can be in the virtual world, can't you? >> we have a virtual conference, people can go to our website and sign up. and so far, we had 10,000 people sign up. my colleague, patty sulers, who puts on the conference, joked she was curious to know what percentage of the people signed up are actually men. they probably want to know what we do for three days holed up in a hotel. >> it's gotten bigger every year. why is that, in your view? >> i think there's a couple reasons. one is it's very self-fulfilling. it's a community now.

a number of women have been coming back year after year, they come back to reconnect with old colleagues. but it's also a business opportunity. at the end of the day, these are business women, and they see this as a chance to network, as a chance to potentially create new partnerships, forge new relationships that could lead to business down the road. and i think the last thing is that, you know, there's no shortage of powerful women anymore. we don't have to struggle to find women in had positions of authority, and power and influence who want a seat at the table. >> and i guess "fortune" or even on this list you couldn't see the future to know that two women who were named most powerful on your list a few years back are now running for national office. i'm talking about carley fiorina as well as meg witman. >> that's right. both of those women were on our most powerful women lists in years past. carley when she was the ceo of hewlett-packard, and meg wittman when she was ceo of ebay, both are now in cam and i wouldn't be

surprised if we would see other women on the list in the future embracing politics and public life, as well. >> all right. stephanie anmita, thanks, executive editor of "fortune" magazine. appreciate it. >> thank you. l right, and this breaking news right now. we're understanding that there is a verdict, a life in prison for the suspect who tried to attempt blowing up times square last may or so. we understand now that he has just received life in prison. faisal shahzad. that was the recommendation from prosecutors, and the judge has a acquiesced to that. we understand life in prison for faisal shahzad for attempting to blow up a bomb in times square back in may. all right. now another look at our top stories right now. the pentagon is being tight-lipped about yesterday's drone attack in northwest pakistan. 11 suspected militants were

confirmed killed. there's word that the dead include five german terror suspects. you may remember concerns about a german terror cell prompted that travel advisory from washington. over the weekend, the fbi and homeland security officials warn that terror attacks were being plotted against targets in europe. less than two hours from now, president barack obama turns his attention to education. he'll deliver remarks at the community college summit at the white house. president obama wants to highlight what he says is the critical role those schools play in developing america's work force. jill biden, the wife of the vice president, is also hosting that event. web giant google says it's about to tap into the vast offerings of the internet, and create a whole new generation of television programming. cnn's christine romans is here to explain what it all means to you. christine. >> multimillion channel television.

>> yeah. and multitasking. >> this is personalizing your television. i mean, the way you get information and use information is changing so much, and we're talking about by the middle of this month, google tv. google trying to transform how you use your television so you can seamlesslessly go from movies to checking the internet to watching, for example, a basketball game. online games, maybe sending a facebook message, maybe even using your phone as a remote control. we don't know what the price is going to be yet, but it should be available this month, and it's going to allow all of these different things. now, apple tv is another idea that's coming to fruition here. this price would be $99 for the equipment to do this. you would rent shows to watch on your television for 99 cents, just much like you get a song for your ipod, you can access music. both of these showing that your relationship with your television is changing and the television for the first time is

really going to be able to be personalized, much more, fredricka, than just saving things on dvr that you want to watch later. but it really could become this nexis of all of the information that you use, and you actually personalize that content. now, the question is, google, when it announced -- is lining up netflix, amazon, the nba, many other partners so all of its content can go on the google -- the google platform. but how will the traditional tv satellite and cable people all respond to this? because, you know -- >> they're not going to like it. >> ala carte information. that's right. that's right. >> that's right. they will not be fans of that. that we probably know. all right. >> it really is going to be a test of your multitasking skills. one screen and you're just, you know -- gosh, going from one thing to the next. >> that's going to drive me crazy. >> can't even figure out my phone. >> me either. christine romans, thanks so much. more now on that breaking news out of manhattan's federal courthouse. the sentencing for that pakistani national who admits to

trying to blow up the new york times square, and now we understand a verdict is in. life in prison. deborah feyerick is standing by outside the courthouse with more on this. deb. >> reporter: that's right, fredricka, he got the maximum sentence on all of the counts. he will be serving life in prison, although the judge didn't want to make a decision on all of the counts, saying life in prison really is sufficient. she did give him the top number of years on all ten counts. now, very interesting to watch him in court. he was defiant. and the judge recognized that. she said the defendant has shown a total lack of remorse. if he had had the opportunity to commit this crime again, the likelihood of that happening is great. she also said that she wanted to set the kind of sentence that would deter anyone who wanted to follow in his footsteps to commit this kind of crime. now, faisal shahzad did have an opportunity to speak during that court hearing. he was -- and he really was very defiant. he said that he was doing this in the name of allah, when he

received the life sentence, he basically smiled, continue to say god is great, god is great. and in his own words, he said, "i'm happy with the deal that god has given me." so although he will be spending life in prison, he seemed to be okay with it. the judge asked him, she said, you know, you will have lots of time in prison to think about what the koran says about killing people. and he responded to her, the koran gives us the right to defend ourselves, and he said what he was doing by his act here in new york city, trying to detonate that bomb in times square, was defending the name of islam, and muslim countries. fredricka? >> all right, deborah feyerick, thanks so much. appreciate that. lots of breaking stories we continue to follow. also one out of fresno, california. all morning long, we have told you about this 8-year-old girl who was allegedly abducted right in front of her mother and other people, about 8:30 last night out of fresno, california, well now we are learning from authorities there that the 8-year-old girl, elise coldanes

has been found safe and she is with authorities soon to be reunited with her mother and family. however, the suspect is still on the loose. more information as we get it, right after this.

all right, countdown is on. just four weeks from today, voters head to the polls for midterm election that could change the balance of power in congress. and this morning, a controversial senate candidate is releasing her first television ad of the general election. right off the bat, delaware republican christine o'donnell references that 1999 interview where she said that she had

dabbled in witchcraft. >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. none of us are perfect, but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us. politicians who think spending, trading favors, and backroom deals are the ways to stay in office. i'll go to washington and do what you would do. i'm christine o'donnelo'donnell approve this message. i'm you. >> wow. i think when you have to start your campaign ad with "i'm not a witch," the battle has been lost. i think she would have been much smarter to ignore that. but, you know, being much smarter is not her strong suit. >> that was last night, bill maher was a government on "john king."

the cnn politics.com desk. paul, what is being said? besides bill maher's comments, this ad, whether it was clever, gets your attention, helps move her forward, what? >> well, fred, one thing for sure, this ad -- we have a story up on cnn politics.com, and as you can imagine, getting a lot of traffic today. one thing about the ad, of course she has to talk about the witch, and those comments and is many others she made when she was an advocate for social conservative causes in the 1990s, some on bill's show back then, generatesed a lot of buzz. later in the ad, she kind of gets to the tea party theme there and the anti washington theme. remember, when she scored that big upset back in the primary in delaware over mike castle, she did it because of tea party support, from many activists in the movement. so you can see her pivoting in the ad toward that, and i guess that's what she has to do. and the other idea there is "i am you." she is trying to relate to the average people in any state, especially delaware, who are suffering right now in these

tough economic times. we'll see if this ad helps make any difference in the polls, which right now suggest she trails her democratic rival, chris coops. a couple other things, fred, going on right now in the cnn political ticker, cnn politics.com. i want to ask dave jenkins, our cameraman to push into this, another ad getting controversy right now. lisa murkowski. remember the senator up there, now running a write-in campaign to keep her seat when she was defeated in the primary in alaska by the guy called joe miller, backed by the tea party express, one of those national tea party groups. they're coming out with a new ad which really blasts her, saying she didn't earn the seat, she got it from her father. and they also kind of say, you know what, maybe she tampered with primary results. she is firing back immediately and she is saying about this ad that it is dirty politics at its worst. so this battle up there between murkowski and the tea party express, definitely not tampering, only getting more heated with just four weeks to

go until the election. one other thing, check this also, brand-new this morning, sharron angle coming to washington for a fund-raiser after she made critical comments about leaders in party. that's what we have right now on the ticker. back to you. >> yeah, we know it traditionally does get nasty when it gets down to the wire, and is maybe that's an understatement as we are four weeks away. paul steinhauser, appreciate it, thanks so much. we'll have your next political update about one hour from now. and a reminder, for the latest political news, go to our website, cnnpolitics.com. and we will be right back. [ commentator ] lindsey vonn! she stays tough!

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go national. go like a pro. this is breast cancer awareness month. you'll see a lot of pink ribbons in october. well now take a look at one example of awareness that is actually upsetting some people. it's a pink version of mike's hard lemonade, which is an alcoholic beverage, to support breast cancer research. well, critics say this is hypocritical, because alcohol can increase breast cancer risk. the president of mike's hard lemonade claims the company has donated half a million dollars

to breast cancer research over the past couple years, and is some groups won't take the money. however, others will. but say they still won't endorse drinking as it relates to breast cancer. all right, i'm fredricka witfield, see you tomorrow. tony harris is next in the cnn "newsroom." gecko: gd news sir, i jugot ae anople really love our claimservice. gecko:speciallthe auto repair xpress. repairs are fast and they're guaranteed for as long as you is thisyyourcphone?ey, th!

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